Zinfandel heritage

[Kcwhippet]

Just read Dr. Carole Meredith's latest on the origin of Zinfandel. Here are some excerpts.

"Primitivo, the grape grown in the boot of Italy, is indeed the same variety as Zinfandel. There's no question about that now. But that doesn't mean that Zinfandel and Primitivo are 100% identical. There are some subtle differences between the Zin grown in California and the Primitivo grown in Puglia, but they're clonal differences."
"Some historical records suggest that it (Primitivo) was brought to Southern Italy by monks who came across from what we now call Croatia, just across the Adriatic Sea from Puglia."
"By fall of 1998, with the DNA results in, it was obvious to us that Plavac Mali (from Croatia) was definitely NOT Zinfandel. But it wasn't completely unrelated either. What became apparent was that Plavac Mali and Zinfandel shared considerable family history, so much that Plavac Mali could have been one of the parents of Zinfandel or vice versa."
"In fall 2000, Dobricic, a very old variety grown almost exclusively on the island of Solta, was found. By June 2001, we had discovered that, just like Zinfandel, Dodricic is also closely related to Plavac Mali. In fact, Zinfandel and Dobricic appear to be parents of Plavac Mali. So, Zinfandel is even older than Plavac Mali."
"DNA results from one of the latest samples (from Croatia), a grape called Crljenak, showed that it matched Zinfandel! We've just finished the work and yes, it's true. It IS Zinfandel"

From all the above, it looks like Crljenak was brought to Italy from Croatia and called Primitivo, then brought to the U.S. and called Zinfandel. So, when can we expect the first bottling of Crljenak from Ridge or Ravenswood?

[Innkeeper]

Great report Bob. As reported around here somewhere we enjoyed Plavac Mali on our trip to Croatia last summer. It was grown everywhere. Brought a bottle back and compared it mano-y-mono with a bottle of zin. There was a similarity, but beyond individual styles of winemakers, etc, there was a difference in taste. Have since referred to them as cousins; which seems to be correct in view of the above.

[Thomas]

Now we need someone to tell us how Zinfandel got to California. Historian Thomas Pinney (American Wine, from the Beginning to Prohibition) disputes the Buena Vista story...

[Kcwhippet]

From data on the ZAP site it seems someone named Macondary brought Zinfandel vines to California about 1852. Osborn & Boggs Nursery introduced Zinfandel to Sonoma and Napa Counties about the same time.

[wondersofwine]

I wouldn't buy Ridge or Ravenswood Crljenak because I could never pronounce it! About all I know in Serbo-Croatian is Good Morning, Good Evening, and the names of two food dishes (and I mangle their pronunciation). But it kept me from starving while in Dubrovnik. (Beautiful city--so sorry it was heavily shelled during the early 90's fighting).

[winoweenie]

I can hardly wait for the next vintage of Biale Crejnicknizxk. Long, long, long finish on the tongue. WW

[Thomas]

ww, isn't that biale-stock? Now that's a real Producer!

[winoweenie]

his proprietory bottling that 'haint abailabble out'n here. WW